I'm just wondering who has an opinion or consumer trends about online purchases. It kind of baffles me to have a 1 day cookie. In fact it seems kinds of outrageous to a newbie like me. I'm part of the affiliate program but I'm considering another affiliation option. 15 days or 45 days, but you don't get the Amazon branding. Anyone willing to guess at how many sales you give without getting a cent? I know people can cash in with their astore, but from a newbies perspective the ball seems way to far in the other court. Obviously lack of competition with Amazon. Why not dropship instead of using Amazon's 1 day cookie?
Using Amazon costs nothing, and you make profit with each sale, there is very little overhead outside of a web host. In comparison, a dropshipper needs to do the following before the first dollar is made: find a reliable dropshipper with products that people actually want, and at inexpensive prices (Amazon handles this for Associates) find a good merchant account (Amazon processes the order for you) prevent fraudulent orders (Amazon handles this for Associates) provide customer service to your customers (Amazon handles this for Associates) deal with chargebacks, returns, unsatisfied people. (Amazon handles this for Associates) development of a website (there are lots of Amazon solutions on the market) website branding (Amazon's brand is mighty strong, sure nice to use to make a sale) website marketing (this is something everyone has to do) compete against Amazon and other large brands (As an Amazon associate, chances are you are working with large brands, versus competing against them) i could probably go on and on about why I would prefer Amazon Associates overdropping, but I think once you start going a little deeper into it, you start seeing that dropshipping isn't all peaches and creme. In fact the only 1 advantages of dropshipping that I won't dispute is the fact that you can markup the price (which could also hurt the sale). As far as the one day cookie issue goes. You can get around that, by making sure that you are the Associate that is engaging the customer, by having them create an account on your site, by sending them an email, encouraging them to come back and look at that product of interest (re-cookie and re-approach, like you would with any customer). I hope this post was helpful. thanks, PuReWebDev
Yes this was absolutely helpful to me! I really appreciate your well thought out and great explanation. I hope others can read your post to clear up some misconceptions.
Good points. As someone mentioned in another thread, you can also try combining Alibris and Abebooks affiliate programs with your Amazon marketing. They have longer cookies and are competitive if you are promoting books.